Procedure allows for permanent birth control

"We had a boy and a girl and our family is complete. After discussing with my husband, we decided that this was going to be it," Melissa says.

So, four months after her son was born, she went to see Dr. Linda Bradley at the Cleveland Clinic for a new type of permanent birth control procedure known as tubal occlusion.

Tiny coils are inserted into the Fallopian tubes.

"It's the size of a piece of spaghetti and what we do is put these coils inside those little tubes and, within three months, the tubes are occluded, blocked, glued together, whatever language you'd like to use," Dr. Bradley says.

The procedure took 10 minutes and Melissa says she could have gone back to work if she wanted to.

Side effects included minor cramping and spotting.

"They gave me some medication to help me relax but you're conscious through the whole thing and what's nice is, there's no incision, there's no cutting," Melissa says.

"It avoids general anesthesia, any incisions on the abdomen and there are fewer complications because everything is done through the cervix," Dr. Bradley adds.

Dr. Bradley says it's very safe and very effective for women who are 100 percent sure they are through having children.

It may also become the new standard for sterilization.

It cannot be reversed and takes about three months before it's effective.

The patient must return for an x-ray to make sure scar tissue has formed over the coils to block the tubes.